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fr. J. suIrH IIND 1a. o. REED, or- Decenas, IOWA.

15mm Param: ivo. 76,258, dated Mme/t s1, isos.

MPROVEMENT' IN BEE-RIVES.

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TO ALL`WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

)3e it known that we, A. J. SMITH and H.y C..REED, of Decorah, in the county ot' Winneshiek, and State of Iowa, have invented 4.a new and useful Improvement in Bee-Hives;l and that the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, `hereinafter referred to, forms a full and'exact specification of'the same, wherein we have set forth the nature and principles of our 'said improvement, by whichour invention may be distinguished from all othersot` a similar class, together with such partsaswe claim, and desire'to have secured to us Iby Letters Patent. p

'This invention relates to a new and improved 'means forgpreventing the frequent swarming of bees, and consequently securing an increased amount oi' surplus honey from'them.

Various plans have been devised to effect this end, such as large hives provided with a plurality of compartp ments, and so arranged that as .one compartment becomes fully occupied, another one may be opened to them. Surplus-honey boxes have also been applied to hives. But no plan has hitherto been successful, .owing to the diiculty ofgetting the bees'to work in new compartments orsupplemental boxes, and if they commence work in th'em, a superior quality of honey-is not'obtained, as the bees, if permitted to swarm, will not commence to work in said compartments or boxes until after swarming-season, and it is during this period that the owers' contain themost abundant supply of-sweet juices. If surplus or spare-honey boxes are not used, and the honey taken from the main portion or body of the hive, avery inferiorv honey is obtained, containing Abee-breadfre= .fluently old and soul". I

Again, if the bees are permitted to swarm, they frequently leave the premises of the apiariast and are lost. Bees will generally swarm three times, and cause the mother colony to become so much reduced-that theyl frequently perish during thewinter, butif they can be prevented from swarmingmore than once, and then induced, after the first swarming, Ato work in spare-honey boxes, a good supply oi` surplus honey may be obtained,

and the colony left strong to survivea cold winter'.

The object of this invention is to obtain the very desirable result above stated, and to this end our inven-v tion consists in the employment or use of a trap and a cage, so arranged that the queen of the first swarm, or any swarm' from the mother colony, may be caught and then coniined, -under the conditions'jand circumstances hereinafter-set forth. Inthe accompanying'sheet offdrawings- Figures 1 and 2 represent a` vertical central section of a hee-hive, showing the manner in which our inven= tion is carried out.- h

Similar letters of reference indicate .likeparts Y A represents the hodyl'ori main portion of the hive, and B, in iig. 2, is the cap or cover of the same, which -may be applied to A, and removed from' it at pleasure. C isvthe queen-trap, which consists of a small square box, having'a lid, @secured to it by hinges, and provided with'an opening covered with wirecloth, b. In the bottom, c, ofthe box thereis an opening, cl, to fit'over ari-opening, e, in the top of the Ahive A. Y

By placing a few pieces ot" comb in this tra-p, when thlis placed, (see fig. 1,) which is done after the swarm is hived', the queen will 'be induced to enter it in a short tim'e,'say an hour or so; The'trap is then out oil' from the hiveAby means of slides f, and is removed to the house, or carried in any close compartment, and the quveen allowed to escape, together with the bees which were entrapped with her. The queen is then caught most geni orally flying to a light of glass ina window,from which she can. be readily picked oil', and is confined in a small wire cage, D, (sce iig.r 2,) which is placedfover the opening e in the top of the hive, where the trap was pred viously placed.' The queen, thus confined, will be fed by the bees within the hive, and will be kept warm by the animal heat escaping therefrom.

The bees will commence at once to'malre comb, and as the queen is not at liberty to deposit her eggs-in the cells, they are lled with honey,l and having no brood t feed, the bees carry very little bee-bread into the hive. The bees, therefore,concentratetheir whole force in constructing comb and gathering-honey, and in a few weeks Will fill a hive of a capacity suilicicnt to'hold from seventy`-ve to'a hundred pounds of honey, which is worth double the product ofV the swarm in any other way. y A l vWhen the hive is filled, Athe caged queen can be removed, and placed in an empty hivcin the same position.

The becs will Search end find heil out, and enter and work i'n the new hive, leaving the tilled'one to be removed bythe apiaiast.

The bees in the new hive, if not too mncli `reduced by their former labor, will,` by giving their queen her liberty, still breed a. good colony for a stock-hive the next se'ison.

, Hoving thus described, our invention, we cln'itn as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent- The combination of the queen-trop and cage with the hive, substantially-as described for the purpose specified.

A. J. SMITH, .H. C. REED.-

Witnesses:

IB. B. GREENE, G. LSMHELD. 

